Locomotive track-sander.



I 11. L. LAMBERT. LOCOMOTIVE TRAGK SANDER. APPLICATION FAILED SEPT. 23, 1908.

Patented Nov. 30, 1909.

k l M /3 WHT-Mamas HENRI LOUIS LAMBERT, OF ROUEN, FRANCE.

LOCOIVIOTIVE TRACK-SANDER.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 30, 1909.

Application filed September 23, 1908. Serial No. 454,473.

To all whom it may concern:A

Be it known that I, HENRI LOUIS LAM- BERT, a citizen of the Republic of France, residing at Rouen, in the Department of Seine-Infrieure, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Locomotive Track-Sanders, of which the following is a specilication.

This invention relates to locomotive track Sanders adapted to discharge sanded water upon the rails and thereby attain a superior adhesion of the sand to the rails and the driving wheels, and an economy1 in the quantity of sand employed.

Heretofore it has been proposed to deliver streams of water above and below the sand in a sand-box by nozzles out of immediate contact with the sand, but owing to improper application of the water and the use of obstructions preventing a free settling of the sand column, such devices have an inferior sand delivery and are incapable of working without using excessive quantities of water and sand.

The object of my invention is to secure an efficient underminingaction on a freelydescending sand column, together with greater economy in the use of sand and water, and I attain this result by discharging one or more jets of water, directly into the column of sand at its lower end, in the immediate vicinity of the sand outlet.

A further object is to secure automatic control of the sand discharge in a sand-box, provided with means for water-injection, to the end that the admission of water inside the sand-box may be preceded by the operation of a sand-discharge valve.

Of the `accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a locomotive having the usual sand-box, which is equipped with my invention. Fig. 2 represents a vertical cross-section of the sandbox; Fig. 3 represents a horizontal section thereof. Fig. 4 represents a vertical section of a sand-box, provided with an automatic sand-discharge valve operated by the admission of pressure-fluid to the sand-box.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the locomotive boiler is represented at 10 and its sand-box at 11 with sand-discharge pipes 12 12 leading from the lowest portion of the sand-box to the spaces between the Vdrive-wheels over the rails. It is important that the interior of the sand-box should be free from obstructions which would tend to prevent the free settling of the column of sand, and I prefer to have the upper part of its interior space, as shown, unoccupied by pipes or other obstructions and slightly wider at the bottom than at the top, like a truncated cone, whereby the sand column is retained in its natural condition and adapted to descend freely in all its parts to the pipes 12. The sand should not be sprayed with water from above,.as this tends to cake it, especially when it contains a portion of clay, or when the interior space of the sand-box is obstructed or of a disadvantageous shape. I am, however, owing to the superior means herein provided for undermining and discharging the sand by the use of water under pressure, able to employ sand of a clayey nature, or sand which is moist when introduced into the sand-box. The ordinary sand-box, as found on most locomotives, fulfils the proper conditions for applying my invention, although the box may of course be specially constructed in any suitable form and located wherever most convenient on the locomotive. The bottom wall 13, as shown in Fig. 2, is of inverted V-shape, so as to slope downwardly and converge the lower space toward the pipes 12. 14 is a pipe leading from the waterspace of the boiler 10 and' provided with a controlling valve 15 in the cab, said pipe branching to enter opposite sides of the sand-box 11 and terminating therein in two perforated pipe-segments or nozzles 16, which lie just above the sloping bottomwall 13, immediately adjacent to the inlets of the sand-discharge pipes 12. These nozzles preferably extend for some distance on both sides of the sand outlets, so as to attack the sand at a number of places along the sloping bottom of the sand-box and some or most of their perforations may be directed away from the outlet pipes 12. Being directly embedded in the foot of the sand-column and adapted to discharge hot boiler water under pressure and at considerable velocity into the sand collected around the outlets of the sand-box, these nozzles exert an etlicient undermining action on the sand-column, causing sanded water to flow out of the pipes 12 in just the quantity desired, whenever the valve 15 is opened. @logging of the sand-pipes is practically impossible owing to the carrying power of the water accompanying the sand, and when the sand reaches the track it tends to remain thereon owing to its wet condition. These and other characteristics differentiate .my invention from sand-boxes employing compressed air or steam.

In Fig. 4, I show a modification embodying a sand-box 11 of truncated cone shape, with a bottom-wall 1?)1 sloping on all sides toward a center opening which is the mouth of a single discharge-pipe 12, and is cont-rolled by a vertically-movable bellshaped valve 17 having a stem 1S which passes upwardly through a fixed hood or sleeve 19, the lower edge of the latter being elevated above the bottom 131 to leave a space for the passage of the sanded water. On the upper part of this stem, is a piston 2O occupying a hydraulic cylinder 21 into the lower part ot' which the end of the water-pipe 14 enters, while farther up on the cylinder, a delivery-pipe 22 emerges and passes downwardly to a perforated discharge manifold or nozzle 1G1 encircling the lower edge of hood 19. A spring 23 acting on piston 20, tends to depress valve 17 to its closed position. When boiler water under pressure is admitted through pipe 14 to cylinder 21, it raises piston 20, thus opening valve 17, and as the piston passes the inlet of pipe 22, it acts as a valve admitting water to this pipe to be discharged through nozzle 161 into the sand for the purpose heretofore described.

I may employ any suitable source of water under pressure and may alter the structural form of embodiment of my invention in various ways.

I claim:

1. A locomotive sander comprising asand receptacle having a sand-discharge outlet and a bottom-wall sloping downwardly toward said outlet, in combination with a l source of water under pressure, a pipe to conduct said water to the sand receptacle, and a discharge nozzle for said water pipe located substantially in the lowest part of said receptacle, adjacent to the sand outlet and adapted to be directly embedded in the sand, said nozzle having one or more jet-- openings for the discharge of the water at considerable velocity into the lower end of the sand-column to undermine the latter and cause an outtiow ot sand and water through the said outlet.

2. A locomotive sander comprising a sand receptacle having a downwardly-convergent bottom, terminating in a sand-discharge outlet, and having an unobstructed sand-con taining space adapted to retain the upper portion of the sand-column in its natural condition, in combination with a source et water under pressure and a water pipe leading therefrom and terminating in a discharge-- nozzle directly exposed to the sand in the lowermost part of the sand receptacle, i1nmediately adjacent to said sand outlet.

3. A locomotive track-sander comprising a sand receptacle having a sand-discharge outlet in its lower portion, a valve contro]- ling said outlet, means for discharging water into the sand, and means whereby the admission of said water is caused to open said valve.

4. A locomotive track-sander comprising a sand-receptacle having a sand-discharge outlet in its lower portion, a water-delivery pipe discharging within the sand-box adjacent to said outlet, a moving structure including al sand-valve controlling said outlet and a motor piston connected with said j sand-valve, said structure adapted to act as a water-valve, and a cylinder containing said, piston and having water inlet; and outlet so arranged that the admission ot water to the cylinder causes said moving structure to open the sand-valve and admit the water to said water-delivery pipe.

HENRI LOUIS LAMBERT. lVitnesses E. M. J. DELLEPIANE, H. E. A. GALLoIS. 

